This application claims a priority based on Japanese Patent Application 11-261136 filed on Sep. 14, 1999, and 2000-233092 filed on Aug. 1, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
The present invention relates to a technique for decorating a dynamic image.
A dynamic image created utilizing computer graphics is widely used in the field of entertainment such as games and animation. In the field of such an entertainment, fineness and force of a dynamic image constitute important factors for entertaining users.
One known technique to improve fineness and force of an objective dynamic image is to draw an image for decoration or each image forming a dynamic image for decoration, which is created separately from the objective dynamic image, on each image frame forming the objective dynamic image having already been created.
However, creating an image or a dynamic image separately from an objective dynamic image only for a purpose of such decoration may cause an increased processing load. Therefore, there is a certain limit on to decorate the objective dynamic image using such a technique.
Further, in order to achieve a high decorative effect, it is preferable to use a dynamic image or an image having high correlation with the objective dynamic image. However, it is not sufficiently considered in conventional techniques for decorating an objective dynamic image using an image or a dynamic image which is created separately from the objective dynamic image.
The present invention has been made taking the above-described situation into consideration, and it is an object of the invention to achieve a high decorative effect in decorating an objective dynamic image with a smaller processing volume.
In order to achieve the above-described object, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of creating image frames forming a dynamic image, the method having:
a drawing step which sequentially draws the image frames forming the dynamic image according to order in time in which the image frames appear in the dynamic image;
an accumulation step which accumulates a part of at least one of the image frames drawn at the drawing step; and
a decorating step for decorating each of the image frames forming the dynamic image by synthesizing each of the image frames drawn at the drawing step with an image obtained by enlarging the part of at least one of the image frames which has been drawn earlier than the image frames to be decorated.
According to the present invention, since an image obtained by enlarging a part of at least one of image frames forming a dynamic image is used for decorating, there is no need for creating an image for decorating separately, resulting in a reduction of processing volume.
Further, since this image for decoration is a part of a dynamic image to be decorated, it has high correlation with the dynamic image to be decorated, and a high decorative effect is expected.
When each image used for decorating each image frame forming a dynamic image is always created as predetermined number of images preceding the image frame concerned, the images used for decorating also form a dynamic image. It is therefore a higher decorative effect is expected.